Love again
by JustJism
Summary: Regina meets a stranger while in hiding.
1. Chapter 1

A little story I am currently working on. Set in season two between episode 10 and 11. In my world this is what happened when Regina went into hiding after she was accused of Archie's murder.

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'_But I love you'  
_'_Then love again'_

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**Chapter 1: A Stranger in Maine**

I saw her again on the third day. I don't know why she piqued my interest. I suppose it had something to do with her eyes. The way she would look up and pierce you with a stare that spoke of loss and pain only visible to those who had worn the same expression upon their own faces at one time or another. Or maybe it was the arrogance with which she carried a permanent mask over that aching expression of utter despair. Never once did she fool me.

But there was more, there was something else about her, a foreignness nobody in that quaint little bar was aware of.

She belonged to my kin.

Her eyes had only once crossed mine, but the expression in them had not lain. She knew things, she had seen things and I, for one, was curious to see if my suspicions about her were correct.

With a surge of courage I had not possessed the first time my eyes had rested on her cold exterior, I approached her and sat myself down on the bar stool next to her.

If she had taken note of me she never showed, in fact, she did not look up, her expression unchanged. She stared at a liquor filled glass, possibly pondering when or if she would take her next sip.

"I had better drink that if I were you, the way you're looking at that glass will turn liquid to ice."

I generally know of better jokes and I admit this was not one of my finest, but everything about her felt unnatural, so in response to that unnaturalness, I myself felt strangely alien. Now that I was next to her I could feel it, it emanated from every cell and molecule in her body. It confirmed I had been right about her.

"I don't recall having asked for your opinion."

The sound of her voice threw me. It was dark, heavier than one is accustomed to coming from a woman, colder than her exterior could ever be. But there was something about that voice, a hint of innocence, a drop of warmth, not completely destroyed by whatever coldness held her captive.

Even though the sounds she uttered held the power to scare lesser men, I stood my ground. There was more that needed to be found out about her. I wanted her to slip up.

A test would be in order. I bend forward, invaded her space, her ear only inches away from my mouth. She remained poised, still as stone. My breath collided with her flesh and I whispered;

"Today I brew, tomorrow I bake,

And then the child away I'll take;

For little knows my royal dame

Rumpelstiltskin is my name"

Her reaction was immediate, but short. Her mask slipped ever so slightly and she realized. There in her eyes, averted all this time, only once had I seen such venom, such hatred in another human beings glare. But it was gone just as soon as I'd beheld it and she turned to me. Her brown irises and dilated black pupils finally drank in the sight of me and in the most neutral tone of voice she spoke;

"I did not take you for the kind of man who enjoys silly children's rhymes."

All I heard was the word silly. Silly, because she knew, silly because she understood.

"I have a rhyme for every occasion."

"Why that particular rhyme?"

The answer was already on the tip of my tongue, the words I had rehearsed so many times before.

"Because I do not know your name, my lady."

That little flirtation saved me, it put her mind at ease and it fooled her. I knew, I saw, I witnessed the relief that flickered across her face. Only those who possess the power of detailed perception would have been able to detect that flicker. She immediately took me for a flirt. A man who was only interested in the way her skin felt against my own. I could not holy deny my disinterest. In fact, her beauty I had noticed first. The second, being that she did not belong here. Not in this bar. Not from this world.

"What makes you think I will tell you?"

I was privy to a swift in demeanour. She was not awkward to the concept of flirting. In fact she seemed to welcome it on this evening. Where before she had sat alone, and had avoided direct attention, she had now changed her mind. By pretending to be something that I was not I had earned my right to converse with her.

"Because I will tell you mine and it's a common courtesy in this world to introduce yourself when another person introduces themself to you."

It was a poor choice of words and if she had not been lightly intoxicated by a mixture of beer and cheap vodka she would probably have examined my words more closely.

Instead, I received a smile.

"Regina." She finally relented.

"My name is Regina."


	2. Chapter 2

I'm so sorry. This update is long overdue. My plan is to update this story once a week on Thursday. Since it's Monday today I won't update this coming Thursday but next Thursday. This way you guys know what you can expect from me and I got a goal to work towards because I'm a lousy updater if I don't set deadlines for myself.

I know this story is a whole lot different from the usual ONCE fluff that gets thrown in your wake. I got a lot of ideas for this one and they're all going in completely different directions than the show is going. In itself I don't think that's such a crappy idea seeing as the show is currently going in a direction I don't necessarily agree with. Let's hope that will change because right now I'm not liking the ONCE writers all that much. Sad times, sad times. Anyway, on to the story.

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**Chapter 2: Aiden**

"Aiden." I replied.

She offered her hand and I shook it. How cold her skin felt against mine, but how strong a touch, such as I had never felt before. Powerful, yet, dark. She experienced it too, the rush, the connection forged when one meets another like them. Yet, she was unable to realize what it meant.

Quite abruptly she pulled away, but I had anticipated that move. I held onto her finger tips just a moment longer causing her eyes to flicker back to mine. Another slip up, another emotion. In that moment I realized just how many cracks there lay in this porcelain face. She was like a broken doll. How very much on the brink of turmoil she stood.

Her fingertips slipped from mine, it was difficult for her to compose herself, but she found the strength and spoke again.

"Nice to meet you, Aiden."

I sat beside her for the better part of that evening. We played a game of cat and mouse, her and me. I lured her into a sense of false security. She was always the cat, the huntress. All she saw in me was a mouse while in fact I was a hidden wolf. Blinded by her ignorance she chased me down narrow paths of adolescence and cornered me in Maine, where she captured and toyed with me. She scarcely spoke of herself. That would come. For now I was satisfied with whatever I could get from her, and in return I withheld nothing. She was to know everything. That is to say, aside from that other life, the cause of what bound us.

Near the end of that evening around midnight I enforced the second stage of my plan. Maybe it was cocky of me or maybe it was simply for the fact that I knew she would respond. There was a connection, an undeniable attraction she would be unable to resist.

I bit my goodbyes and stood up to leave, waiting wondering whether she would let me go. Yet, I was not surprised when I found that her hand grabbed mine. I turned back to face her.

"Don't."

She almost pleaded. Her façade slipped away, revealing the loneliness I had already observed in her demeanour.

I smiled; momentarily exhilarated my little ploy had worked, I sat back down. Invading her space, I was closer to her than I had ever been, and a type of excitement swept over my being as I asked;

"Where would you like to go?"

She smiled. A wicked smile that set her eyes alight, it seemed to sober her up and with her hand still in mine she guided me to the door.

I had no idea, no inkling of where she would take me but she seemed to have a plan, a place only known to her.

We treaded through woods and gloom. Finally, when the darkness surrounded us all where we turned she stopped and faced me. Her eyes aflame she backed me up against a tree. And I thought this was it, this would be where she would give up her dark secrets.

"Who are you?"

She demanded.

This was a sudden change I had not anticipated. How very poorly I had misjudged her.

"Just a guy you met in a bar."

She shook her head, convinced my words were tainted lies.

"You're more than that. You underestimate your pray, Aiden."

Maybe I ought to have feared her. But circumstances as they were made me admire her more than I already had. It was foolish of her to have brought me here. I was stronger, taller and bigger. I could have overpowered her in seconds. I wondered what had possessed her to take me on in a place quite as abandoned as the grand dark woods.

"What do you know of Rumplestiltskin?"

She demanded. Her voice dark, intimidating.

"Only the tale. He demanded a first born in exchange for the deal he'd struck with the miller's daughter."

It was the truth. But she was not satisfied. She placed her arm against my throat and pressed her whole weight against me. Her light frame pressed against my own felt like a joke. There was nothing she could do, there was no real strength in her except for the magic she could not practice in this world.

"There's more."

I pushed her arm away and with it she stumbled backwards, almost losing her footing. Maybe she realized her disadvantage in that moment. Her hand rose in the air but nothing happened. And there it was, the look of realization. The understanding she held no power here.

I humoured her nonetheless.

"You're the first born of the miller's daughter."

Even though darkness surrounded us I held the ability to observe the flicker, the light in her eyes. The shift from stunned realization to cold determination.

"Who are you?" She whispered.


End file.
